In Your Own Words

3. SUBJECT: HOCKEY

to: weston.maguire@baderu.com

from: cassandra.belford@baderu.com

subject: Hockey

sent: January 26, 2017 at 8:54pm

Weston,

Thank you for your email. Can you tell me about why you play hockey?

Best,

Cassie

. . .

to: cassandra.belford@baderu.com

from: weston.maguire@baderu.com

subject: Re:Hockey

sent: January 28, 2017 at 5:13am

Cassie,

Really, that's it?

That's all I get after I wrote you like, 100 pages? I really thought that I'd get a bigger response. Maybe not 100 pages back, but at least an 'atta boy' or something. Maybe you could tell me about your day.

I get it, I guess. It's a job.

Alright, as per your request, here is my response to the hockey question: I play hockey because I'm good at it, and because I like it.

It's really that simple.

For some people, the game is life itself. Not being able to play would be like holding your breath, or starving. To be honest, and you did request that I be honest, it's never been like that for me.

Let me explain. I started playing when I was five years old because I'm from a small town just east of Kingston called Caledon, and hockey is just part of growing up there. My friends and I learned how to skate together before we learned how to swim. Then, like a year later, they put sticks in our hands and pucks at our feet... and for me it just made sense.

The game itself isn't very complicated: the team has a goal (get the puck into that net, keep the puck out of this net) and I help them do it. I play defense. I've played all over the ice, but defense is where I'm best.

I'm also a lot faster on the ice. When I was eight, my coach said he was surprised I never flew off the ice like a plane taking off.

I played a few team sports growing up. I swam, ran track, and played soccer and football, but hockey was the one that stuck for me.

When I did other stuff, like football for example, I was only slightly better than average. And that's on a account of genetics rather than talent. I didn't take to any sport as naturally as I took to hockey.

In hockey I was a fish in water. But in other sports I was more like a frog---passable.

A lot of the guys on Bader's hockey team are only passable, though there are a few exceptions. One of them is my buddy, Peter.

Pete is one of those "hockey is breathing" people that I mentioned. To him, hockey is everything. He got suspended from playing this year because his grades weren't good enough, and I really thought it might kill him.

We've been friends since we were kids, and we've grown up playing hockey together. We went through the leagues in Caledon, both joined Bader's team in freshman year, and we both took to defense. He's a hell of a defenseman, but Pete and I are good for very different reasons. I worked hard, sure, because everyone has to work at it. But about 75% of my talent is just one more thing I can't explain. It always felt easy, the way my sister is with music. But not Peter. Pete is one of those people who works his ass off to be on the ice. He trains hard, he books private practice slots, and he re-watches game tapes weeks after the rest of us have moved on from a loss.